is there any evidence that even one person of those 90% would have paid for the game if it wasnt "free"..

No there is not, there never is.

I personaly pirate most of my games, simply because I do not have the spare money lying around to buy all the stuff I'd like to try out. When I do buy a game, i have to very carefully consider it and usualy they last me a very long time. Being a college student in a central european country, I don't exactly have a lot of money lying around, not to mention the fact that wages in Hungary are way lower compared to Western European countries while game prices remain pretty much the same. Steam knocking off like 5 euro's off the price of a game because I'm in region 2 realy doesn't compensate for that.

Fact of the matter is, I'm not a lost sale, simply because I wouldn't have bought it in the first place, and considering a large demographic who plays video games are college/uni students who are tight on money, I'm sure I'm not alone on this.

For references sake, minimal wage in Hungary is 564-656 forints an hour, which is about 2 euros.

I wouldn't consider this striking back at pirates. I think it is just a nice way to draw attention to piracy. If they were actually striking back, they'd have put in an update system that auto installed malware on systems with the pirated version, which would then go after their credit information, and bill them the full cost. That is striking back.

"Gamer" is not a bad word. I identify as a gamer. When calling out those who persecute and harass, the word you're looking for is "asshole." @_DonAdams

When you see someone in a thread making the same canned responses over and over, click their name, click view forum posts, and see if they are a troll. Then don't feed them.

If i could, i'd be smashing the shit out of the "Like" button right now, since this is spot on.

People pirate, due to a lack of funds or a lack of perceived value. Why spend x money on a game when I can get it for free and spend that x money on something else.

Let's assume that there's a 90% pirate rate on all games and no DRM. 10k people play the game. 1k pays, 9k gets it for free, games company goes bust and we don't see any more games from them. Now let's assume that someone creates a DRM system that is uncrackable, with no way to even install the game let alone play it; you're still left with only 1k people buying the game. Maybe you convert say 25% on over to paying for your game, that's still a tiny amount, but maybe that's enough to keep the company afloat assuming they're still making games people are willing to pay full price for.

Finnally let's assume that instead of selling your game at full price, it's down to say half. Or even just at $10. The people unwilling to spend $60 on a title, are now paying for the game. Maybe some still won't, maybe 10 bucks is still too high a price, but that's up for the market to decide. If piracy really is so rampant, then the industy should have collapsed years ago. No games companys would have any money to make any games (or games that cost as much as they do, which is yet again a fault of industy not the consumer), if there was a 90% piracy rate across the board.

I am tottally with composemail on this one. I wanted to play Bioshock Infinite and borrowed it from a friend, completed it and gave it back. Does that make me a pirate? Did I steal the game? Would I pay full price for it? No. I'd be willing to spend about £10. I don't care if you, or Irational, or 2k Games or IGN or anyone elses tells me it's worth more than that, that's what I am willing to pay for it.

If this means that I can't get my hands on games with the visuals, writing or gameplay of Bioshock Infinite, well tough, boo-hoo. There's still going to be other games around for me to play, other ways to pass the time and experience storys. The onus can't be on the consumer to keep funding these huge projects without the game companys giving the consumer a reason to.

I brought Withcer 2 at release for £25. I'd never played the first and I've not even killed the Kayren in the second, despite starting it about 3 or 4 times. Will I be buying the 3rd? Hell yes! You got a metric crap ton of added goodies for buying the boxed version of Witcher 2, plus I wanted to support a company that not only makes games I enjoy (but hardly play), but also has a fantastic website for bringing back to life older "classic" games.

Related to the topic - Had Game Dev Tycoon allowed me donate money to them, or choose how much I'd spend on it, they'd have gotten £1 out of me. That's what it's worth to me. It's an evenings entertainment and then forgotten about in a week. I played the demo, enjoyed what I played but didn't want to pay the £7 it costs to keep playing. At £7 that's way too much, hell that's incredibly close to the amount that World of Warcraft costs for a month! Yes, that's a slippery slope argument, but that's how I justify what I spend my cash on. It's probably how the vast majority of gamers work out what to spend their cash on - "How much does this cost for the amount of time i'm going to be playing it?"

Don't put your game on a torrent site, allow people to access a legit means of buying your game and advertise before handing your games directly to the pirates is all we're going to get from this dumb PR stunt.

I don't rly like companies going up in piracy so much and thinking it kill the gaming market..

i'm sure it helps with getting the game out to people who maybe never heard of it and maybe let the company make more money since those who pirated the game will tell it on to others who maybe buy it or they buy it themself..

i have pirated maybe 2 games in my life rest i've bought because i have the money for it and i like to help the companies.. but going on about piracy killing the market is bullshit

it's like saying "We have worked so hard on this game so please don't pirate it so we can make lots of money even though we get enough for what we used on the game and even more"

Piracy has hit some games where it hurts though. Games like Tomb Raider didn't manage to break even because a lot of people settled for a pirated copy which is really saddening because the game was really good and deserved to be kept afloat.

I'm hoping people will realize this and end up either donating to or going out and purchasing a copy of the game.

Last edited by Flaks; 2013-05-02 at 01:26 AM.

Originally Posted by High Overlord Saurfang

"I am he who watches they. I am the fist of retribution. That which does quell the recalcitrant. Dare you defy the Warchief? Dare you face my merciless judgement?"

Piracy has hit some games where it hurts though. Games like Tomb Raider didn't manage to break even because a lot of people settled for a pirated copy which is really saddening because the game was really good and deserved to be kept afloat.

I'm hoping people will realize this and end up either donating to or going out and purchasing a copy of the game.

did u not read anything people have said? there is no evidence that those people who pirate the game would have bought the game. Like people have said if the game was decent it gets positive word of mouth..

I'm sure each and every one of us has pirated something in our life time. Take some personal accountability and just admit you did the wrong thing.

It doesn't matter what your perceived value is for something. You still stole it. There's no justification. Just take responsibility for your actions, man. We've all done it, and I'm sure most of us will do it again in some way, shape or form.

I guess its just the times we live in these days. No one takes responsibility for their actions anymore. There's always an excuse. No one can do no wrong anymore.

That's like going to the grocery store and having breakfast in the cereal isle, straight out of the box, because your perceived value of the food is less than what they charge for it.

EDIT: And just for the record, I'm against DRM and realize that anti-piracy measures likely harm a product's sales more than they could hope to help them, but the fact still stands, piracy is piracy. If you're going to do it, don't try to convince yourself that you're not doing something wrong.

---------- Post added 2013-05-02 at 02:12 AM ----------

Originally Posted by agnow

it's like saying "We have worked so hard on this game so please don't pirate it so we can make lots of money even though we get enough for what we used on the game and even more"

You don't really understand how business works, do you? The ultimate goal is to maximize profits. Not just make a profit.

did u not read anything people have said? there is no evidence that those people who pirate the game would have bought the game. Like people have said if the game was decent it gets positive word of mouth..

I've not seen any evidence to the contrary either. And that's the problem every time the piracy debate comes up on these forums. If there's actually been scientific studies done for either side, I've not see any of them. All I ever see is tons of anecdotal evidence, which isn't worth the pixels it's printed on.

Piracy has hit some games where it hurts though. Games like Tomb Raider didn't manage to break even because a lot of people settled for a pirated copy which is really saddening because the game was really good and deserved to be kept afloat.

I'm hoping people will realize this and end up either donating to or going out and purchasing a copy of the game.

I have to admit this is the case, Square Enix got some extremely solid sales, Tomb Raider did fairly well... for being a ripoff of another game. Which other games said Square thet were struggling? Hitman and Sleeping Dogs... now let's break the issues in those games:

Hitman gameplay (never played it that much before, but it's a thing most reviewers have pointed out) got extremely limited from what the franchise used to be, maps were smaller, thus making the player feeling to be on a dumbed down area, the game isn't bad, but doesn't live up to previous expectations, thus making old fans or people who just liked the game a bit too deterred from the franchise.

Sleeping dogs... m... where to start, the game is definately great, feels fluid, the areas are nicely crowded but the gameplay, the fight system itself didn't catch up for me, like the main selling point of the game was the fighting involved, for me it was just one more game that did offer a nice open world enviroment, thus it made me pick Saints Row over Sleeping Dogs (well, actually sleeping dogs was going to be True Crime Hong Kong)

The reddit page seems pretty flawed tbh. Of course 97% of the playerbase have pirated the game when the game has been released for free download (albeit a modified version). It's like asking someone to either buy an item, or take it (or steal it) without any real downsides.

The reddit page seems pretty flawed tbh. Of course 97% of the playerbase have pirated the game when the game has been released for free download (albeit a modified version). It's like asking someone to either buy an item, or take it (or steal it) without any real downsides.

The issue here is that you, the shop owner put the product into disposition for the mass to just download the thingy, which ended up being a "demo" and created A FUCK TON of free publicity.